


Rings Of Fire

by LI0NH34RT



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Ice Skating AU, M/M, Sports, Thiam, figure skating AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25241911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LI0NH34RT/pseuds/LI0NH34RT
Summary: Figure Skater Liam dreamed of being at the Olympics his whole life but when his partner Hayden breaks her ankle at a practice jump too risky, his dream seems over and done.Theo is a single skater because his attitude makes him incompatible with a partner but that doesn't stop their coach to pair them off in training  – Will the flame of their hate burn them out or light up a different fire?
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 16
Kudos: 62





	Rings Of Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shatteeran](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatteeran/gifts).



> For Theo. Special thanks to Manon for all the expertise! 💙

The sounds his blades make when they meet the ice has always been one of Liam's favourite sounds. It's harsh and clear and it has a certain finality to it, like every time the blade makes contact he creates another piece of the picture that is his performance. The ice sings to him when he skates and it makes him feel like he already won the competition for being able to move like this.

Today, the ice stays silent and every time his skates hit the cold, hard ice the horrifying sound of snapping bones echoes in his ears.

~♤~

“Alright guys, that's it for today!”, Madam Piers claps her hands together and a collective relief floods through the figure skaters present. Shoulders sack down, wrists and necks are stretched as they slide over to various exits.

  
“Not you, Raeken.”

  
His Coach's voice makes Theo stop in his movement to slip on his skate guards before quickly finishing his task and looking up.   
Somehow, despite the fact that he graduated a few years ago, being held back like this feels awfully like getting detention, Theo thinks.

After he quickly showered and changed into warm clothing, Theo walks through the empty halls of the ice rink towards the coaches’ office.   
He knocks.  
“Madam, you wanted to see me?”

Madam Piers sits behind her desk, waiting for him to sit down. Then she folds her hands.   
“You trained in pair skating before switching to singles right?”  
“Yes?”  
“Why didn't it work out? I never asked you.”

  
Theo chews on the inside of his cheek, he doesn’t like where this conversation is going.  
“I did”, he finally says, “never worked out though. Something about me not being compatible with a partner. Personally I think they just couldn't keep up with my tempo and that's why they quit.” He leans back, arms defensively crossed, his scowl only deepening when he sees his trainer's lenient smile.

  
“I think I found the ideal partner for you to try again.”

  
“Oh yeah?”, now Theo gets interested. Since Tracy stormed off, saying something about skating with him was like constantly having a knife pressed to her back, there hasn’t been a woman brave enough to try being his partner.

  
“Liam Dunbar”, Madam Piers says.

“Me and the anger management case? Are you serious?“, Theo snorts in unbelieving amusement, “you do remember how he almost broke my nose just because I wasn't fast enough with the leg trainer once, right? Also, there is the small thing that we both are men?”

“Yes", the woman in front of him leans back, making herself comfortable in her chair.   
“I absolutely do remember that day. Actually that... unfortunate incident made me aware of the sparks the dynamic between you two has.”

  
“Sparks? More like fire hazard...”, Theo mumbles to himself.

  
It is true. Every time Liam Dunbar and Theo are in the same room, they fight. It's lucky they didn't share any ice time yet and that has mostly been due to the fact that single skater and pair skaters trained separately on a team as big as team USA.

“And for the... gender question”, the coach continues to dismiss his protests, “you wouldn’t compete together, obviously. You simply help Liam to stay in Olympic shape until Ms. Romero is cleared for sports again.”

Theo must still look too sceptical because she leans forward, a conspiratorial smile on her lips, “also... you know, the pair skaters get paid better, right?”

~♤~

Liam got even buffer than the last time Theo saw him. His tight, long sleeve thermo-shirt accentuates the bulging biceps and perfectly displays his broad shoulders (also, the colour really brings out the blue in his eyes but Theo is not thinking about that). Liam crosses his arms in front of the chest whiles he eyes Theo up and down, unconvinced.

  
“I don't know if I can trust you enough to throw you.”

  
“Oh please, if anything, I would throw you”, Theo snorts. 

  
That finally gets Liam to look into his face. Confusion playing on his features.

“It was a joke", Theo states, “Madam Piers said you need to stay in shape and learn your program. That won't happen if you do the women's part all of a sudden. Plus", he adds with a cheeky grin, “as much as I would like to be under you, squished to the ice was not how I imagined it.”

  
The innuendo does it's job, Liam blushes a deep red, his mouth pops open and closes again without a sound, blue eyes get dark like a threatening storm and then- he simply storms off.

  
Damn it. If Liam had gotten really angry, maybe thrown another punch, Theo could have gotten out of this and gone back to his own competition planning again. Well that is, if it was of any use.

He remembers what his doctor said. About his weak heart and the dangers of stress. His sister's tearstained eyes when he made her swear not to tell their parents. His promise. 

  
One last year. 

Liam storms out of the gym into the locker room, he doesn’t care about showering and just quickly grabs his bag. No time for thinking. Thinking is dangerous because it makes him angry.  
 _Fucking Theo Raeken._

The first thing his best friend says to him when Liam steps towards him in the hospital lobby is “did you take a taxi?”  
Liam nods, one hand coming up to rub on the angry wrinkles on his forehead.  
“I keep my promises”, he says, “no driving when I had an episode.”

  
His IED had gotten better over the years, with practice and medication, but it would probably never be easy to stay calm.  
Mason nods before slinging an arm around the skater’s shoulders, “I am proud of you.” Then he lets go again, “come on, Hayden waits for us.”  
They take the elevator up to the third floor and reach Hayden's room in amicable silence and after a knock they are invited in.

  
“Hey, how was practice without me?”, the brunette girl, lying in her hospital bed, a thick bandage around her left ankle and foot, smiles at her two visitors.

Immediately Liam's face gets dark again. He lets his bag flop onto the floor and himself on one of the chairs, “please don’t start.”

  
Hayden and Mason exchange a look over his head, then the girl carefully speaks again.  
“Madam Piers said you got a new partner to train with? Who is the lucky gal?”

And then everything breaks out of Liam. His anger about the coach, about Theo Raeken and most of all about himself.  
“I still can’t believe I broke my promise", he ends his rant, almost whispering in his pain.  
“Oh Li", Hayden chokes up not able to continue her sentence and so Mason finishes it for her, “the accident wasn't your fault, Liam. It was just that. An accident. Those happen, unfortunately, but no one is to blame for them.”

  
Liam looks up, his blue eyes swimming with tears, “just real bad luck then, huh?”

~♤~

The first time Liam steps onto the ice, Theo already doing warm up laps as he is waiting for him, his stomach is in knots so tight that it makes him feel sick, but under the watchful eyes of Madam Piers he skates over to the other guy.

  
_Nothing will happen today, no jumps_ , he tries to comfort himself. They are just supposed to get to know each other and then do some simple synchronicity exercises to start of their partnership.

The training goes by in silence, only their coach's instructions and their own breathes audible. 

After two hours, Liam is starting to sweat but he has to say that Theo surprised him. Not one snarky comment left his mouth, he didn't try to rail Liam up like before and when the veil of anger isn't clouding his sight, it turns out that, no matter how much they fight and hate each other off the ice, they make a pretty good team on it.

  
When they finish up their last lap, slowly gliding towards the exit, Theo catches his eye, he smiles. And Liam cant help but smile back.

The weeks go by and with every practice the knots in Liam's stomach get loosened up more until he catches himself actually looking forward to practice one morning.  
Of course his mum notices and of course she has to ask him about it when she drives him to the rink before going to work. With his own car at the shop, Liam can't escape her investigations.

“So", she's trying to sound casual but Liam knows that she is anything but, “you seem very happy to go skating lately?”

  
“Yes?”

  
“I mean, not that that's a bad thing! I am happy when you are happy and after Hayden had that fall I was so worried about you, but still; is there something that changed your mood?”, she rushes out before adding with poorly hidden mirth in her eyes, “or someone?”

Liam thinks about Theo's hand in his, warm, safe. The triumph in his eyes after a successful routine. Them gliding over the ice in perfect sync, as if they had been training for years and not months. 

  
And then, a few weeks back...

_Theo twirls in the air and when he comes down Liam's hands are already there to hold him around his waist and guide him to the ground safely._

  
_“Fuck yeah!”, he calls out and Theo laughs as they continue to skate, “we did it! That was perfect!”_   
_“Not nearly as perfect as your hands around me...”, Theo almost purrs out, “I wouldn't mind feeling them elsewhere too.”_

  
_Liam stumbles, catching himself before falling but Theo already sped off, his laughter echoing through the empty hall._

  
_And he can't help but think,_ me too.

“No", he says, “I guess I just got my game back.” But the smile on his face doesn't vanish, not even when they reach the ice hall and Theo teases him about looking like ‘a teenage boy in love’.

~♤~

The last few months went in such an entirely different direction than Theo expected them to go that it was almost hilarious. Training with Liam was hard but even though the first weeks had been a constant push and pull, they had worked together remarkably well.

  
Of course Theo still didn't stop teasing Liam but now the other guy doesn't react with clenched teeth and fists anymore but with the easy grin of someone who has a snarky answer ready, they are bantering instead of fighting and slowly but surely Theo starts to _trust_ Liam.   
It is something that he couldn't do in the past and maybe that was part if the problem with his previous partners. 

  
With Liam, everything is different. They are in sync as soon as they step onto the ice, jumps and twists come effortlessly and sometimes it's almost as if they can read each others thoughts.

  
But it is more than that, for Theo. 

  
There is another new thing for him, apart from the trust. Feelings.

Theo has known for a long time that doesn't have any interest in girls, he never hid that fact, was never ashamed in it and never had problems with it.  
 _Well, with that sports_ , had his father said, jokingly but he still yelped when his wife slapped him over the head.   
Theo smiles at the memory.

  
So yeah, the feelings are not a surprise. But Liam's reaction is. Because secrets aren't a good thing to have when you need a clear head and because Theo hates keeping them anyway he chose today to tell Liam about his crush.

He steps through the main entrance of the building, the lights are already on that means Liam must be here even if his car isn't on the parking lot.

  
Theo remembers a remark about it being a piece of shit car and that a new one will be the first thing that Liam wants to buy when he wins a medal. When, not if. Theo smiles, that boy is too confident for his own good sometimes.

He reaches the locker room and steps inside.  
“Li? You here?” no answer. _Already on the ice, huh? Overachiever..._

  
Quickly changing into his thermo-practice gear Theo takes his skates and makes his way through the hallways over to the rink.  
“Hey”, he calls out when stepping inside, “did you start without me?” his voice echoes in the empty hall but again his question stays unanswered. That is until he hears a sound, it's coming from under the tribunes and almost sounds like... a sob?

  
“Liam?” Theo carefully steps towards the seats and bends forward to look into the small, dark space under the metal construction.   
A curled up figure appears when his eyes get used to the lack of light. All thoughts of his own feelings are forgotten as he realizes that Liam is crying.

“Hey", Theo knees down next to where his partner is hunched on the cold ground, “what happened?”  
The other boy lifts his head, tears shine in his blue eyes.

  
“Hayden won't get back on the ice. She just ended her career.”  
He holds out his phone to Theo, on the display a linked video in a chat. Under it three words.

**I’m sorry, Liam.**

_Oh._

  
Theo always knew that he was only there to help Liam stay in form, that they could never compete together. Hayden coming back for the Olympics next summer had always been the plan.

  
Both skaters had wanted to use the big event for a grand finale before cutting back on competing and staying with nationals and shows instead of forcing their bodies to keep up with younger skaters.

  
Now, without the opportunity of going out with a bang, Liam is visibly frustrated and angry.

  
Theo sits down next to Liam, one arm sliding over his shoulder and then he pulls the other guy into his embrace. Liam, barely hesitating, hugs him back; he is still shaking, if it's anger or shock.  
“She already gave an interview, huh?”, Theo asks, “such a bitch move, without talking to you first.”

Liam giggles wetly, but the sound quickly dies. “I am just so angry at her! This competition should have been our finale! The thing we tell our children about. She even insisted on that new jump to spice it up and well", a bitter laugh interrupts his rant, “look where that got us!”

_Speaking of a grand finale..._ a thought that has been nagging Theo for a while surfaces again.

  
“You know, I think I have an idea.”  
Liam looks up with such a hopeful expression that this alone will be worth it all.

~♤~

“Are you absolutely sure, you want to do this, Theo?”, his father asks for the third time this phone call alone.  
“Yes, dad", Theo sighs. 

  
“It will end your career too. You won't be able to compete anymore.”

  
“I know, dad”, Theo says. And he does. He also knows that his father can’t understand why he is doing this. He still hasn’t told them about the heart. But hey, he thinks for himself, maybe that's what love does to you, making you a bit stupid.

  
He throws a quick glance to Liam, sitting next to him in the back of the shuttle, his headphones in and eyes closed, lost to the world. Yes, love. This is not just a simple crush anymore, he realizes.

“No matter what you do, we love you, okay Teddy?”, that's his mum, already choked up and Theo feels the lump in his own throat getting bigger at his childhood nickname.  
“I love you guys too. See you on TV?”

They get near the Olympic ice rink now so Theo says good bye to his family and hangs up the phone.

  
Time to concentrate.

  
~♤~

The atmosphere is almost electric with tension as people run around, trying to get places and do things; athletes, coaches and staff alike are bustling with energy and the volume level gets even higher the closer one gets to the actual competition hall.

Madam Piers has arranged a private preparation room for herself and then promptly left them alone to watch the competition of the single skaters; the one Theo should have been a part of.

“Do you regret it?”, Liam asks with a tiny voice, even now, so close to the end his blue eyes look up to Theo full of doubt. Theo smiles, turning towards him and his black costume shows its opalescent colours in the neon light of the room, “do I look like it?”

  
Liam doesn't answer.

  
“Liam", Theo steps closer to his partner, “I am doing this for you just as much as I am doing it for me. You know, as a single skater I was mediocre, at best", he lifts his finger to stop Liam's protests from interrupting him, “you know it's true. Only with you by my side I could unfold my full potential – I would have never known that if I hadn't started skating with you and for that alone, I am grateful.”

  
They are close now, close enough for Liam to feel Theo's breath on his face, close enough to see the honesty in his green eyes. Liam smiles.

  
“Let's go out with a bang.”

~♤~

When they skate towards the middle of the competition rink, the hall goes quiet.   
It's only after the announcers call out their names

“Team USA! Liam Dunbar and... Theo Raeken!”

with an audible pause before Theo's name, that the whispers and murmurs start.  
But they already positioned themselves and now the music starts. No time for thoughts.

  
The next time Liam can think again is when they stop moving. They are back in the middle of the ice, in their end pose, Liam's hands on Theo's waist while Theo's rest on his shoulders.   
The last notes fade away and for a second there is only silence.  
Then Theo's eyes meet his, Liam sees the determination in them and then, Theo kisses him.

  
The crowd erupts into cheers but that sound is nothing against the happy fluttering of Liam's heart when he kisses back.

  
_**Absolute and utter perfection.** A joy to watch._ **The most in sync team on the ice.**

That's how the papers and news reporter would describe Theo's and Liam's performance later.   
Of course it is no use because they had been disqualified from the moment they stepped onto the ice together. The public loves them but there are rules for figure skating and they broke them.

  
But they don't care.  
Some things are more important than winning.

And when he holds Theo's hand for the victory lap that is completely and absolutely for themselves, the ice under Liam's blades sings again.


End file.
